Obviously there are a lot of programs ongoing already in those areas. Many of them again focus on the school-age children. I’m trying to bring some focus to the age zero to three here. I’ll leave it at that and look forward to further discussions in committee with the Minister and further exploration with my colleagues.

On the Aboriginal language and culture-based education item and my colleagues’ reference to graduates this year, I was very glad to hear about those graduates of Aboriginal language and culture educators. How many graduates did we have this year, if the Minister happens to have that information? What is the duration of the program now to where these students achieve their certificates in this area?

I remember in 2005 when I first got onboard, the ALCIP program was more geared to certificate only. During deliberations, as we are doing here today, we’ve changed it to a diploma program as well. We can provide more detailed information to the Member on the graduates and, of course, the home base where they’re coming from. Some are pursuing even further to get their degrees to become teachers. So, Mr. Chair, there’s been some slight changes from certification to diploma and we are making progress in this area.

I’d definitely like to see more graduates out of this program. So I have the information here. One bit of the information is eight graduates from the Beaufort-Delta ALCIP program in May 2012. That’s just one snapshot of it.

Thanks for that information. Very good news on the eight graduates there on the move to a diploma. Just on the duration, at one point we were offering the programs at such a low rate that it would take 10 to 20 years to achieve all the programs and the courses required for that qualification. So is it possible to do this now in two or three years of going to school? Thank you.

Specifically to the ALCIP program, it’s a two-year program. The Member might be referring to the interpreting and translating program that’s also being offered at Yamozha Kue Society. That takes a bit longer. I’m familiar with that because he raised that issue with me before. We are exploring options in that area with the college campus. We want to improve in that programming to deliver, I guess, you could say expeditiously so those individuals can receive their qualifications in due time. Mahsi.

I do have a couple more questions. Just quickly on the subject of NACC, the Northern Arts and Culture Centre facility and programs, I know they are planning to expand their facility and had submitted a request for some help. I believe that work is happening this summer and was too late for the infrastructure budget. I suppose there’s a possibility of a transfer. Has the department made any decisions on that request for funding? I know they had achieved a major part of the funding from I believe the federal government and had some other partnerships already also contributing. Is ECE playing a role here? Thank you.

NACC has construction happening there. We did, as a department, commit towards this particular construction. So the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will be contributing towards this construction project. I’ve already committed to that. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Bromley, I’ve noticed your time is up.

I’ll put you back into the queue. I know you have some more questions. However, noting the time, the Chair recognizes the need for a short recess. Does committee agree?

Thank you very much. We will be reconvening in a few minutes. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

Welcome back, committee. We are resuming on page 10-17. I have on the list for questioning, the Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a number of questions. This section covers quite a bit, so I may jump around a little. I would like to first of all ask about – and this might have been asked before and I apologize if it has – the Early Childhood Development Program which is under education and culture.

We are, I think if I remember correctly, currently training early childhood teachers at Aurora College. I guess I would just like to ask the Minister what kind of a certificate people are getting, and if I remember rightly, our certificate is not one that is recognized nationally. Could I just get some clarification on that? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is it’s a certification program and it’s part of the on-line program that’s been delivered and it’s in association with Yukon College. It’s in partnership with them that we have this particular program.

So this is an on-line program. So it’s not a classroom taught program? My question was also whether this certificate was recognized nationally or not.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Ms. Iatridis.

Thanks for the response from the acting DM. I guess my concern with a modified program is, you know, if we put the emphasis on early childhood, whether it be preschool or child care, daycares, playschool-type activity or facilities, and we have teachers and assistants in that facility working with the kids and if they are not taking a course that’s fairly rigorous and that gives them a high level of skill, I would think that we’re kind of cutting off our nose to spite our face in that we’re

not getting the best we can for the kids in this program.

I don’t know why the program has been modified. Maybe I’m wrong in my assumption. I would hope that we would try to train our people to the highest standard possible so we can provide the best programming possible to our children.

Under instructional and support services, curriculum review and revision and so on, I noted when we were discussing the business plan that the department is publishing a Science 30 text. I immediately wondered why we are publishing textbooks. It would seem to me that this is an activity that isn’t necessary. Surely to goodness there must be Science 30 texts already published elsewhere in the wide world that we could acquire without having to go through the work of developing and publishing a text. Could I get an explanation as to why it is that we’ve decided we need to publish a textbook?

Great, thanks for the answer. That makes sense. One of the things that has occurred to me – and I’ve expressed this in my opening comments about the difference in the standards or levels of education that students achieve depending upon where they live and what school they attend – is that high school students in particular probably don’t take the high school courses that they need to get themselves into post-secondary institutions because I don’t think they understand, nor do their parents understand, courses that are required for them to get into a post-secondary course or institution.

One of the things that I think is lacking in some of our schools is staffing, whether it be part time or full time, but staffing to provide counselling; and by counselling I mean counselling in proper courses and counselling in what the kids need to take to achieve their goals. I just wonder if the department has recognized this as a need, if there is any sort of assistance to education authorities, and to ensure that they do have that service to the students in every high school that we have. That would basically be career counselling, for lack of a better terminology. It’s to assist the kids in making the right decisions in the courses they take and in making the right decisions to get them on the post-secondary school path of where they want to go.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. This particular area has been brought up even at the ASA forum and early childhood development discussions, having guidance counsellors. Using previous experience has been very successful, why don’t we have that anymore.

The funding that we contribute to the school boards, it’s at their discretion if they want to hire a guidance counsellor, per se. At the same time, we are in discussion or will be in discussion with the school board, as well, that there is a great need to enter into discussions with the school board on particular guidance counselling.

The Member alluded to maybe a half-time position, per se. Those types of discussions we’re currently having because we are in the process of developing implementation plans for ASA. ASA, when we were going around, we heard that same topic, a lack of guidance counsellors in the schools. There are also students who are in the process of completing a career action plan in Grade 9 that is reviewed annually. This is just going beyond that. A position into the regions. We will be discussing this with the school boards and how we can best rectify the situation to deal with those educational awareness with the parents and the students, the program they should be taking.

Thanks to the Minister for that. I’m really glad to hear that it’s on the radar, that this is an issue that is being addressed to a certain extent. I guess I would like to encourage the department to be more demanding in what they ask the education authorities to do.

As I mentioned when we talked about the Auditor General’s report some months ago, I think there is a need for the department to be a bit more autocratic and demanding in the things that… The department as a central body should demand certain things of the board and this is one of them where I don’t think the board should have any choice. They should make sure that they have this service for the kids.

I wanted to ask my last question with regard to inclusive schooling. This is an area where the program review office has done some investigation; they’ve done some analysis of inclusive schooling. It’s also an issue that has come from a number of boards. Particularly YK1 in Yellowknife has lobbied Yellowknife Members over the last while. There needs to be, I think, and I would look to the department for confirmation, but I believe there needs to be an analysis and evaluation of how we fund school boards for inclusive schooling and for particular individuals. I think – and we’ve had some conversations I think with the Minister – this kind of giving boards money as a percentage of their student population is not being fair to the schools and the teachers and the students who have a very large need, I guess for lack of a better way of

putting it. I think there needs to be a total evaluation of how we fund our schools for inclusive schooling and for special needs students. I guess I would like to ask the Minister whether or not that is something that the department is considering.

This is an area that we’ve discussed within our department and even as far as a Cabinet discussion how we can deal with this matter. I’ve given my direction to my department that we need to explore it even further how we distribute funds on inclusive schooling to the school boards, whether it be based on percentage, and how can we deliver it even more effectively. The funding, the $26 million over all. We need to review that again within my department and working with the school boards. It has to be a united approach because we are dealing with the 33 communities and a population of 40,000. Yes, we are exploring those areas.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Ms. Bisaro, just noting your time is expired. If you have further questions, we’ll put you back in the queue. With that, we have Mr. Hawkins next.